The Premier League is back - but who will come out on top in the opening round of fixtures?

BBC Sport's football expert Mark Lawrenson has made his predictions for the first 10 games of the new campaign, which include Arsenal hosting Leicester on Friday night, champions Chelsea against Burnley on Saturday and last season's runners up Tottenham against newly promoted Newcastle on Sunday.

Lawro will be making a prediction for all 380 Premier League games this season against a variety of guests.

His opponents for the opening round of Premier League fixtures are BBC athletics commentators Brendan Foster and Steve Cram.

Foster, who supports Newcastle, and Sunderland fan Cram saw their teams swap divisions last season, with the Magpies promoted back to the Premier League at the same time as the Black Cats went down.

"It's great to have my team Newcastle back in the Premier League," said Foster. "Particularly - and he is standing next to me laughing as I say this - because Steve's team are not in the Premier League any more. So that is good news."

Cram is not confident Sunderland will bounce straight back to the top flight either, adding: "I have got friends who are a bit worried that we are going to go straight down again.

"It is not going to be easy and I would be amazed if we won promotion this season. I am always hopeful and always look on the positive side... but I don't sound confident, do I?

You can hear more of their tales of Tyne-Wear derby banter and the mixed fortunes of north east of England football clubs on Football Focus at 12:00 BST on Saturday on BBC One and the BBC Sport website.

Premier League predictions - week 1

Result

Lawro

Cram

Foster

FRIDAY

Arsenal v Leicester

x-x

2-1

2-0

3-1

SATURDAY

Watford v Liverpool

x-x

1-1

0-2

0-4

Chelsea v Burnley

x-x

2-0

2-1

4-0

Crystal Palace v Huddersfield

x-x

1-1

0-1

0-0

Everton v Stoke

x-x

2-0

3-0

2-0

Southampton v Swansea

x-x

2-1

2-0

0-0

West Brom v Bournemouth

x-x

1-2

0-1

2-1

Brighton v Man City

x-x

0-2

1-3

2-1

SUNDAY

Newcastle v Tottenham

x-x

0-2

1-1

5-0

Man Utd v West Ham

x-x

2-0

2-0

2-0

A correct result (picking a win, draw or defeat) is worth 10 points. The exact score earns 40 points.

SATURDAY

I think the Hornets will be better than they were last season with Marco Silva as manager - he will get more out of his players than his predecessor Walter Mazzarri did.

The focus on Liverpool is about Philippe Coutinho, and whether he will join Barcelona - but he has a back injury so he won't play in this game anyway. Reds boss Jurgen Klopp is without Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge too.

Liverpool won here late last season thanks to an outstanding Emre Can goal, but I am probably going to go for a draw this time because Silva will make Watford hard to beat at Vicarage Road.

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

Cram's prediction: 0-2

Foster's prediction: 0-4

Chelsea v Burnley

Chelsea look short of players and I think Blues boss Antonio Conte made his point about the strength of his squad by putting some young players on the bench for the Community Shield, as well as some of his summer signings.

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The defending champions are without the injured Eden Hazard on Saturday, but I still think they will have too much for Burnley, who managed only one away win last season and rarely looked much of a threat on the road.

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Cram's prediction: 2-1

Foster's prediction: 4-0

Crystal Palace v Huddersfield

New Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer has not made many signings yet, while Huddersfield have been very busy.

It will be interesting to see how the Terriers play, because they did try to play football last season in the Championship.

Promoted teams always have a real bounce about them early in the season and I think that will help Huddersfield get something here.

Lawro's prediction: 1-1

Cram's prediction: 0-1

Foster's prediction: 0-0

Everton v Stoke

Everton need reinforcements up front because I am not sure where the goals are going to come from at the moment.

I know they have signed Sandro Ramirez from Malaga - and they can throw him in - but are they going to play Wayne Rooney behind him or try to get Gylfi Sigurdsson in from Swansea?

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It took Stoke until their eighth league game to get their first win last season, and their seventh game in 2015-16, so it will be interesting to see if they have examined what they did in pre-season and changed anything this time.

This is a tough opening game for the Potters but, even if they make another bad start, I am never seriously worried about Stoke - whenever I have done in the past they always start winning.

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Cram's prediction: 3-0

Foster's prediction: 2-0

Southampton v Swansea

Both of these teams have players who obviously want to leave - Saints defender Virgil van Dijk and Swansea midfielder Sigurdsson.

I think they will both get the moves they want and neither of them are likely to play - why risk them when they are probably not fully fit?

In their absence, I am going for a Southampton win, but I still think Swansea will have a decent season under Paul Clement.

Lawro's prediction: 2-1

Cram's prediction: 2-0

Foster's prediction: 0-0

West Brom v Bournemouth

Bournemouth have made some good signings in the shape of Jermain Defoe on a free and Nathan Ake and Asmir Begovic for a combined £30m from Chelsea.

We know what West Brom are like at The Hawthorns but I like the way Bournemouth go at teams and I am very interested to see how they get on this season. I think they will improve on last season's ninth-place finish.

Lawro's prediction: 1-2

Cram's prediction: 0-1

Foster's prediction: 2-1

Brighton v Man City (17:30 BST)

It is absolutely fantastic to see my old team Brighton back in the Premier League, although they start with a very difficult game.

What happens here will be absolutely no indication of what will happen to the Seagulls this season - that will come when they play the teams that I think will be down in the bottom six.

I played for Brighton the last time they played their first game back in the top flight - in the old Division One at their former home, the Goldstone Ground, in 1979.

We lost 4-0, but we finished 16th [out of 22] and stayed up.

Manchester City look really strong and they are my tip for the title.

Their summer signings have improved the team and I don't think Pep Guardiola has stopped spending yet.

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

Cram's prediction: 1-3

Foster's prediction: 2-1

SUNDAY

Newcastle v Tottenham (13:30 BST)

Tottenham's great problem this year will be Wembley because it will be like playing away from home every week.

It is good to see a club like Newcastle back in the top flight, but I am expecting a very different outcome this time.

Lawro's prediction: 0-2

Cram's prediction: 1-1

Foster's prediction: 5-0

Man Utd v West Ham (16:00 BST)

I see West Ham as a mid-table side looking upwards, but it is asking a lot for them to get anything at Old Trafford.

Manchester United have got a massive squad - in terms of quality as well as numbers, I think it is the best in the Premier League - and I think they are going to have a real go in every competition this season.

Lawro's prediction: 2-0

Cram's prediction: 2-0

Foster's prediction: 2-0

Lawro was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.

How did Lawro do last season?

In Lawro's league table based on his 2016-17 weekly predictions, Chelsea and Liverpool finished joint champions.

Overall, he had four teams out of 20 in their correct positions, with seven more only one place out (see bottom of the page).

Total scores after week 38

Lawro

3,440

Guests

2,760

Lawro v Guests

P38

W24

D1

L13

SCORE

GUEST LEADERBOARD

150

Elis James

130

Boris Becker, James McAvoy, Tim Vine

120

Robbie Williams

110

Michael van Gerwen

100

Joe Clarke, Osi Umenyiora, Tom from Kasabian, Royal Blood

91

Lawro (average after 38 weeks)

90

Josh Franceschi, Goldie, Amy Macdonald, Andy Murray, Colin Murray

80

David Gower, Loyle Carner, Nicole Scherzinger

70

Dave Bautista, Sam Burgess, Anthony Crolla, Athletico Mince

60

Rick Astley, Adrian Dunbar, Jermaine Jenas, Sting & son

50

Martin Kemp, Charlie Sloth, Laura Kenny

40

Ed Balls

30

Michael Bisping, Blossoms, CFC Fan TV, Full Time DEVILS, American hip-hop duo Run The Jewels, Serge from Kasabian

20

Moeen Ali, Lloyd Griffith, Charlie Nelson

10

Omid Djalili

Lawro's best score: 140 points (week 22 v James McAvoy)

Lawro's worst score: 30 points (week four v Dave Bautista)

+/- DENOTE POSITION DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LAWRO'S TABLE AND ACTUAL POSITION